The idea of transformative and troublesome "threshold concepts" has been popular and influential in higher education. This article reports how teachers with different disciplinary affiliations responded to the "concept of thresholds" in the course of a cross-disciplinary research project. It describes how the idea was territorialised and enacted…

This paper is based on an empirical study of assessment practices currently being undertaken in a post-1992 university in the UK. Our broad interest is in examining assessment practices in context in order to explore why lecturers assess in the ways that they do. The Assessment Environments and Cultures project aims to illuminate some of the…

Argues that rhetorical theory needs to keep alive competing concepts of discourse communities, so that alternatives exist in the description and analysis of discourse practices. Proposes distinguishing between two kinds of discourse communities--the local and the global--so that rhetorical analysis can achieve the necessary critical edge,…

The increasing use of computer technology in formal educational settings has been simultaneous with the increased acceptance of functional perspectives of knowledge construction and acquisition. The practical need to make formal education cost efficient has resulted in the use of computer technology to render knowledge accessible to students who…

A taxonomy of metadiscourse--defined as discourse that people use not to expand referential material but to help their readers connect, organize, interpret, evaluate, and develop attitudes toward that material--was proposed in "College Composition and Communication" (Vande Kopple, 1985). More surveying and classifying has been done since…

Examines the oral discourse of four university teaching contexts (lectures, laboratories, writing classes, and writing conferences) for the incidence of exchange patterns. Defines exchange patterns and explores previous research on three-part exchanges. Presents new research on two-part exchanges. Focuses on how non-native speakers of English…

Discusses a cautionary, honest approach to qualitative business communication research, which adds validity and strength, used in a study of a hospital discourse community. (RS)

Reflecting on Jean-Francois Lyotard's work "The Postmodern Condition" may provide those who work in the writing center with additional ideas about how to make writing centers the next best thing in composition instruction. Lyotard offers a way to argue against the affirmation of traditional values and characteristics in writing (i.e.,…

Shows how microethnography can be an effective tool for analyzing the possibilities and constraints of electronic discourse by overviewing two electronic mail ethnography projects. Suggests that such approaches can help students better understand electronic rhetoric as well as electronic ideology (the power relationships and cultural values that…

Examines the organization of discourse communities around the production and legitimization of particular forms of knowledge and social practices and the way students learn, or fail to learn, the conventions of a discourse community. Suggests writing teachers consider the pedagogical implications of teaching the conventions of any discourse…

This paper is based on an ethnographic study that examined the study abroad experiences of 20 male Japanese students in Vancouver (Canada) from a post-colonial perspective. This perspective allows the researcher to view the Japanese students studying in the West as deeply embedded in a transnational context where global and national ideologies and…

The Cartesian/Newtonian vision of human existence is outmoded because modern quantum physics has rendered it inaccurate. Quantum theory has demonstrated that the world cannot be reduced to independent and separate elements. The notion that there is an external, objective reality "out there," separate from the self, to be classified, measured,…

Professional and disciplinary rhetoric often breaks down when texts cross professional boundaries. An ethnographic study conducted in an Indiana courtroom during a civil trial demonstrates the failure of disciplinary rhetoric. Despite the fact that the plaintiffs in a personal injury case had demonstrated the negligence of the defendant according…

This paper traces the range of literacy events that occur in one cybercommunity whose members are participants in the ongoing role play, "Cybersphere." A sample text produced by users within the community serves as the focus for critical analysis and offers a rich example of the ways in which language is being used within cyberculture.…

Investigates the discourse practices of the "affiliated professions" of software engineering design. Compares lists of design issues generated by students in computer science and computer communication to lists produced by experts associated with software engineering and by students entering an unaffiliated profession. Suggests that affiliated…